


Soft Flames

by AshaHawke



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Caregiving, Comfort, Daenerys is Yara's Safe Place, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 15:46:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11854719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshaHawke/pseuds/AshaHawke
Summary: It's been a while since Daenerys and her dragons rescued Yara Greyjoy from her torture at Euron's hands. But Yara still wakes up from nightmares drenched in sweat.One night, she musters up the courage to tell Daenerys about the trauma she went through.And Daenerys gets the courage to commit to staying by Yara's side, for now and for always.





	Soft Flames

**Author's Note:**

> This could be interpreted as a sequal to my other short fic, "Safe Here." But it will still make sense even if you haven't read that one.
> 
> If you comment on my work, I'll comment on yours. Comments = love. <3

Yara woke up to her own sharp cry. It wasn't the first time--more like the hundredth in the weeks since her rescue from Euron's clutches. She bolted up in Daenerys's bed, drenched in sweat and panting as if she couldn't get enough air.

Dany woke up beside her. In the darkness, Yara heard the rustling of sheets. The padding of Dany's bare feet across the floor as she fumbled to light the candles.

Dany lit enough small flames to illuminate the room, and glanced over at her lover. Yara had risen from the bed and wrapped a sheet around herself, clutching it tightly to her body. She paced the room, avoiding eye contact. All her muscles were tensed, and Dany could see the way her collarbones still jutted out too far from having been starved. Beads of sweat covered her skin; more sweat made her hair stringy and slick.

"You're all right, now, love." Dany kept her voice a gentle whisper. Part of her felt like an idiot in these times--she was never sure what to say.

Yara didn't respond. Her lips were clamped together and her eyes roved around to different parts of the floor.

"Would you like me to run you another bath?"

Yara edged herself into the farthest corner of the room. She stood, trembling violently, against the wall. Pulled the blanket more tightly around herself.

"Not now, then. Another time." Dany kept her voice patient and soft. "It's all right. I would command all three of my dragons to hail down fire and blood on anyone who even spoke of harming you."

A few moments passed in silence, and they watched as the candles flickered. Watched as the shadows danced across the room, writhing and twisting like dying snakes, like broken things.

Yara suddenly looked up. "I never told you what they did to me on board The Silence."

Dany carefully crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She wanted her lap and her arms to be a safe place for Yara, if her lover so chose. "No, you haven't. But you can, if you'd like. I never wanted to push you, but I want to hear as much or as little as you want to share."

Yara carefully moved out of the corner and climbed onto the opposite side of the bed. She kept the blanket wrapped tightly around herself and leaned against the pillows.

"My first night on board, they all took turns." She looked away from Dany and kept her eyes rooted on the candle flames. "There were dozens of them. It had to have happened a hundred times, maybe more."

Dany wanted to close the distance between them, to wrap her arms around Yara and hold her close until the sun rose. But she saw the way the other girl kept a rigid posture with as much distance as possible, and she remained where she was. Yara needed space. She needed to maintain her sense of control, her sense that no one would close in on her body. And Dany would respect that.

"All those dozens died a fiery death," said Dany, not wanting to rub it in that those fires had come at her own word. "And so will anyone else who tries to violate you."

"After a while I just went limp." Yara's voice was flat, emotionless. "They passed me around. I went outside of my mind. I felt myself floating, somewhere above the sails, and I watched down at the choppy black waves because I didn't want to see what they were doing to my body. How pathetic I looked."

Dany felt like someone had plunged dragonglass into her heart. "My Captain. You are the farthest thing from pathetic."

"The pain I could handle." Yara's voice was so far away. "I've been through lots of physical pain, both before that moment and after. You obviously know my battle scars. But their words--those were harder to take. The japes they tossed back and forth about how I was less than a woman, how they were teaching me lessons for not knowing my place. The types of words they used to describe me..." Yara trailed off, and curled herself into a ball inside the blanket.

"That happened more times than I care to recount," she continuned. "And then there were the chains. That fucking iron collar he forced me to wear like a dog. He jerked it and choked me just to watch me jump, to make me follow him around like his slave. And he bound my hands together behind my back, and he never undid them, I couldn't feed myself, I couldn't do _anything_ myself. He kept me like that all the way to King's Landing, and when he paraded me through the streets he spared nothing in telling the hordes of commoners about what he'd done to me. And none of them condemned him. They all cheered him on."

Dany felt like the blood in her chest had turned to ice. She opened her mouth, tried to find the right words, but nothing would come out. And she knew better than to look at Yara when she felt this way. Last time Yara had felt like Dany was looking at her with pity in her eyes, she'd stormed out of the room and spent all of the next day in a spare bedroom, hiding alone in silence.

"I truly thought that I would die on that ship," she went on. "And then I thought I would die in King's Landing. But I was never afraid of death. I know I'll die at some point--maybe at sea, maybe in battle, maybe in my bed of old age. What got me was the idea that I would die unloved. Without dignity. Worse than alone--surrounded by people who hated me, reveled in my torture, wanted to see me suffer."

Dany drew in a careful breath. "You'll never feel unloved again."

Yara finally looked at her. "How can you say that?"

Dany swallowed. "On that first night, after we saved you and brought you home, I told you you were safe here. And I meant it. Yara, I didn't only mean safe in the sense of physical refuge. I meant--as long as you are with me, unless you ever choose to leave--you are safe here. Safe in my home, safe in my bed, safe in my arms. Safe from being abandoned. Safe from being hurt. Do you understand?"

Yara stared down at the blankets. Dimly, she wondered why they suddenly looked blurry, as if they'd been buried by the sea.

She wiped her eyes and finally dared to look up. "You really mean that?"

Dany paused for a moment, then stood up out of bed. She crossed the room until she was at Yara's side of the bed, and got down on one knee, and took Yara's hands into her own.

"Daenerys?" Yara's hands squeezed tightly. As if they were a lifeline.

"Yara Greyjoy." Daenerys's voice was steady and even. "Queen of the Iron Isles. Captain of the Black Wind. I don't know how to do this, I--I'm not sure if this is right..."

Yara squeezed her hands tighter. "Keep going."

"Marry me, Yara. If you choose. We can rule together. You in control of the Iron Isles, me in control of the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, and--and you by my side in all things. You in charge of my heart, always. And you'll never have to feel alone or unloved for as long as you live, because even the thought of you in pain is enough to nearly destroy me."

Yara pulled Dany into her lap. She devoured her with hands and teeth and roving hands, and they clung to each other in a frantic haze that was blurred by Yara's tears.

"Yes," she finally said. "Of course I will."


End file.
